


Snakes Aren't Always Cold-blooded (better known as, The Year Mikey Became A Slytherin)

by Werepirechick



Series: Wands in hand. [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Human, Concerned Sibling Brigade, Gen, Gryffindor Casey, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Hufflepuff Leonardo, Inter-House Friendships, Never again, Ravenclaw April, Ravenclaw Donatello, Slytherin Mikey, Tumblr Prompt, a series of misunderstandings really, donnie and april are aspiring mad scientists, even if most of their adventures are illegal, gryffindor raphael, his siblings are The Worst, including each other, it was gonna happen eventually lets be honest with ourselves here, its great, leo had a really normal school life before his siblings, leo never sleeps again, mikey was already a sinnamonroll and it just gets worse, racism mentioned, raph and casey will fight p much anything, tmnt flashfic event, where no one is traumatized and everything is pure
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 12:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7891948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Werepirechick/pseuds/Werepirechick
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Hamato, Michelangelo.”</p><p>Leo watched as Mikey sat down on the old wooden stool, his too long hand-me-down cloak tangling his feet as he did. The sorting hat had to be crammed down against Mikey’s wild coils, and Leo snickered to himself as the hat nearly popped right back off.</p><p>‘Another Hufflepuff, without a doubt,’ He thought happily, sipping at his cup of green tea. Leo had kept a spot open beside him at the Hufflepuff table, anticipating the black and yellow strips to be Mikey’s new colors.</p><p>The hat was taking an awfully long time though… maybe Raph had been right, and Mikey would end up in Gryffindor instead.</p><p>Finally, after a moment longer, the hat exclaimed its choice loud enough for the whole hall to hear.</p><p>“Better be, SLYTHERIN!”</p><p>Leo choked on his tea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snakes Aren't Always Cold-blooded (better known as, The Year Mikey Became A Slytherin)

**Author's Note:**

> Things people should remember when reading this: I read only six of the books, do not remember most of those books, and used a lot of wiki and quick checks of the early books to write this.  
> Honestly, just take with a grain of salt. Or sugar, since this is a pretty positive story. No hurt/comfort or real drama anywhere for once.
> 
> They're all smol, happy, and just here to learn magic. What a pure universe.
> 
> So a quick background thingy for the world: Yoshi is a regular wizard, he did marry Tang Shen in this verse, and they had a baby named Miwa; however, during the second wizarding war, Tang Shen and Miwa were killed for being mudbloods, and Yoshi only spared because he was 'pure'. No, Saki wasn't a part of that. He and Yoshi have a good relationship in this 'verse, because Yoshi went to Hogwarts as a kid, where he met Tang Shen, and Saki went to Drumstrang, where he met and eventually married his current wife. No icky love triangle, because that's played out and I like weird-uncle-Saki a lot better. They've got a daughter named Karai and she's essentially canon Karai, but less kill-or-be-killed, and hasn't been raised to be a Top Ninja or whatever. Saki's a cool guy and a pretty great dad all in all.
> 
> As for the boys, they were orphans from the swell of mudblood killings throughout the wizard world. Whoever their parents were, they didn't survive the war. I think there were probably a lot of orphaned wizards around that time, it was a pretty brutal war. Yoshi ended up adopting the boys about a year after Tang Shen and Miwa were killed, and raised them in his privately owned dojo. That's his job, recreational martial arts and tai-chi classes. His family is one that immigrated a long time ago, following the spice trade or something. IDK, I live in Canada and we don't talk much about this sort of thing.  
> The age line up for the kids is Leo, thirteen, Raph and Donnie, twelve, and Mikey, who is eleven of course. They're all very much of mixed heritage, because I love that sort of headcanon. More details inside.
> 
> Wait until you've actually read this to start discourse about where I've placed them house wise, there's an amount of reasoning behind it and not just me looking for a hilarious story to write.
> 
> So yeah, enjoy this fic, its like 100% fluff and kid cuteness. A good reprieve from canon, and from my usual writing style.

 

 

“Hamato, Michelangelo.”

Leo sat up straighter, craning his neck to see his youngest sibling walking towards the stool for his sorting. He could see a near skip in Mikey’s steps, excitement not dulled in the least since getting on board the Hogwarts Express. Mikey, as well as the rest of their family, had been waiting two years for this moment.

If Leo looked over at the Gryffindor table, or the Ravenclaw one, he’d see their other two siblings Raph and Donnie watching just as eagerly. It’d been hard after Donnie and Raph had come to Hogwarts, for them to leave Mikey alone on the station platform; but finally, Mikey would be joining them in school and they’d be all together again.

Leo watched as Mikey sat down on the old wooden stool, his too long hand-me-down cloak tangling his feet as he did. The sorting hat had to be crammed down against Mikey’s wild coils, and Leo snickered to himself as the hat nearly popped right back off.

_‘Another Hufflepuff, without a doubt,’_ He thought happily, sipping at his cup of green tea. Leo had kept a spot open beside him at the Hufflepuff table, anticipating the black and yellow strips to be Mikey’s new colors. Mikey was the friendliest, goofiest kid anyone could meet, there was no way he’d end up anywhere other than Hufflepuff.

Which would be the best thing really, since Mikey had the worst tendency to get into trouble when left alone; it’d be easiest if Mikey was in the same house as Leo, where he could keep an eye on his youngest brother.

The hat was taking an awfully long time though… maybe Raph had been right, and Mikey would end up in Gryffindor instead.

Leo took another sip of his drink, waiting for the hat to finally decide where Mikey would be placed.

Finally, after a moment longer, the hat exclaimed its choice loud enough for the whole hall to hear.

_“Better be, SLYTHERIN!”_

Leo choked on his tea.

 

 

“What do we do? None of us can keep an eye on him in there-”

“-thought for sure he’d be with me or Leo, what the hell is that hat on-”

“- can honestly say this didn’t enter my guesses of likely house placement, it makes no sense-”

All three of them, Leo, Raph, and Donnie were huddled outside the dining hall, waiting for Mikey to emerge from it.

None of them were sure what had happened, or what to do about it.

It would have been one thing if Mikey had been sorted into Raph’s house, where without fail, the two of them would have left a trail of destruction. Make that three, since Casey would no doubt be causing chaos right along with them.

But Slytherin? Bright, cheerful, lovable goofball Mikey, was in _Slytherin?_

“Enough! Both of you, shut up!” Leo said finally, shushing both his younger brothers. “We have to think carefully about this, and talking all at once isn’t going to help. We need to think of just why Mikey would end up in Slytherin, and quickly before he comes out.”

“Who cares why he’s there, what matters is that those snakes are gonna eat him alive!” Raph exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. “We have to get him out!”

“Raph, honestly, house prejudice is beneath you,” Donnie said, pulling his fraternal twin’s arms back down. “You’re just being fussy because you Gryffindors have that rivalry with Slytherin. Besides, there’s no such thing as house reassignments. And before you ask, _yes_ I checked before this. I’m just as concerned as you two.”

“So what do we do then? We just leave him alone in there?!”

“We’re not leaving him alone anywhere, Raph,” Leo said calmly, trying to bring the conversation down to quieter vocal levels. “Even if Mikey’s in a different house, we can still look out for him.”

“Yes, because two seconds years and a third year will make so much difference against a whole house,” Donnie said dryly, rolling his eyes behind his black rimmed glasses.

“Not the point,” Leo said, shooting a glare at his brother.

“Then what is?” Raph demanded.

“The point is that bottom line; we support Mikey and watch out for him, no matter what house. Just like dad wanted us to, alright?”

No argument there, from any of them.

Raph tugged at his already loose tie, pulling it completely out of its knot and leaving it hanging on his neck. “I’m just, you know, kinda… worried about him. Slytherins can be mean, I don’t want him gettin’ beat up his first night here.”

“Again, house prejudice, Raph; other houses can be just as if not worse than Slytherins at times, statistically speaking-”

“Don’t lecture me now Donnie, I don’t flippin’ care if its prejudice or whatever, I care that Mikey’s gonna get cornered by some lug head snake and probably lose what pocket gold he’s got-”

“Hey guys!”

All three of them paused and turned around. Mikey was there in the doorway, beaming proudly with his hands on his hips and new house colors displayed on his robes. And behind him stood another member of his house, tall, bulky, and extremely intimidating.

Mikey gestured at the much older boy behind him. “Check it out, I already made a friend! This guy here is Linnorm Hirutarum; he’s a fifth year in my house!”

“Call me LH,” The older boy rumbled, smiling down at the three assemble brothers. “It’s nice to meet Michelangelo’s brothers, though I’ve heard of you three before. You’re quite famous.”

Considering the trouble Raph and Donnie had gotten them all into last year, it wasn’t a surprise to hear that the Slytherin knew them.

However, it was another thing entirely to be talking to the infamous loner of the Slytherin house, a wizard only spoken of in whispers; Leatherhead, the boy having been given the nickname mostly unkindly, for his leathery burn scars starting on the top of his skull and following down his whole right side.

Some said he’d been given those scars fighting a dragon, others said it was from a deadly magic duel from which only Leatherhead had walked away from.

And here was their baby brother, beaming like the scary teen was his new best friend.

Knowing Mikey, LH might as well be.

Leo recovered first, reaching out to shake hands. “Nice to meet you too, LH. Glad to see Mikey’s already finding friends.”

Leo might be completely petrified of this boy, who was almost a veritable mountain, but he’d be damned if he was rude to someone who could potentially keep their brother safe. LH shook Leo’s hand, his huge hand almost engulfing Leo’s.

“Soooo, what d’you guys think? I kinda like the green,” Mikey said, showing off his newly striped tie to his brothers.

Raph bit his tongue, and Donnie adjusted his glasses nervously. Without speaking, the two of them exchanged looks and decided on their replies as one.

“You look great, Mikey. Silver and green goes well with your freckles.”

“It’s not red and gold, but you know, not everyone can be me.”

“I think you look really grown up Mikey,” Leo added, grinning at their younger brother, and knowing that’s what Mikey was looking for in response.

Mikey fidgeted with his tie, smiling lopsidedly. “Aw, thanks guys. I was worried you wouldn’t like it that I’m a snake. I really thought I was gonna end up with Raph or you, Leo.”

“We did too,” Raph muttered, before Donnie cut him off with an elbow to the gut.

Leo shot a warning glance at his other two siblings, before turning back to Mikey and patting their youngest brother on the shoulder. “You ended up in the house that fit you best, nothing for it. I’m sure you’ll do great as a Slytherin.”

“You really think so?” Mikey asked.

“I know so.”

Mikey threw his arms around Leo’s waist, hugging tightly. Raph and Donnie got the same treatment shortly afterwards.

Mikey had to leave right away after, following the rest of the awaiting Slytherin first years. LH nodded once to the three brothers, before heading for his house as well.

That left the three elder brothers standing together in a mostly empty hallway. Donnie didn’t stick around long, and neither did Raph; both of them hurrying off to catch up with their friends.

Leo was the last one, glancing worriedly down the hall that led towards the Slytherin house. He’d said Mikey would be fine, but he wasn’t entirely sure of that fact.

Leo spent a long few hours that night in his dorm room, wondering if Mikey was really in the house he was meant to be in.

 

 

Mikey plopped down right next to Donnie next breakfast, even though he technically was supposed to, and started chattering away about how neat his common room was, and how huge the beds were, and how he’d gotten to spend time with LH the night before, and-

Donnie leaned away from his cheerful brother, looking him over for bruises or the like. “…you really had a good time last night?”

“Yesh, why wou’n’ I?” Mikey questioned through a mouthful of eggs.

Donnie flicked through what he knew of the Slytherin house, not much as it stood, and decided he’d need to investigate further into the house beyond just rumors.

“No reason,” Donnie replied, adding another round of hash browns to his plate.

As soon as Mikey had disappeared, chased away by a prefect of the Ravenclaw table and headed straight for the Gryffindor one, Donnie moved spots over to his closest friend.

He put his plate down across from April, interrupting her conversation with Irma, and leaned forwards on his elbows. “So. How do you feel about spending the first week of school figuring out how to break into the Slytherin common room?”

April’s eyes lit up in the way Donnie liked best, and she grinned as she leaned forward in the same way. “You have my attention.”

It took them all of two days to find a member of the Slytherin house willing to give up the current password. Donnie and April might’ve had to resort to a bit of bribery, and then blackmail. But so long as their informants kept their end of bargain, no one would have to know that, and no one had to be exposed for their less than legal acquiring of certain performance enhancing potions.

 

 

For the rest of the week, up till and including Friday, Raph ranted on and off to Casey; mostly about Mikey’s placement.

“I’m tellin’ you Casey, there’s no way Mikey’s gonna be alright in that house,” Raph grumbled to his friend as they walked; they were between classes at the moment, and had decided to stop in the courtyard for some fresh air before muggle studies. A mostly redundant class for them both, since Casey had grown up in the muggle world, and helped Raph essentially ace his tests. “You’ve heard the stories right? Of the stuff they do to first years?”

“Wasn’t there one ‘bout using them as test subjects for potions?” Casey asked, only half listening to Raph as he talked.

“Yeah, plus all the ones about there bein’ snakes in the washroom, and how everyone’s always hexing each other, and how they got freaking guard snakes to keep out intruders, and how they have zero tolerance for mixed bloods, _which is what we are and that means Mikey too-”_

“Chill dude, Mikester’s a tough guy, he can handle ‘imself,” Casey said, setting his ratty book bag down on the stone bench as they sat down. “Besides, ain’t it Leo’s job to be the worry-wart?”

“Leo’s trying to be _mature_ and support Mikey; he’s even trying to be friends with Leatherhead just so Mikey’s more comfortable.”

“LH seems chill,” Casey said indifferently. Raph scowled deeply at his friend; sometimes, Casey picked the worst times to lose his _‘Come at me bro’_ attitude.

“Aren’t you even a little concerned?” Raph asked.

“Nah. Mikey would let us know if shit-heads needed a talking to.”

“No he wouldn’t. He’d try to handle it himself, same as every time someone picked on him.”

Casey grimaced, thinking about how last summer they’d gone back to the Hamato’s place and found Mikey with carefully hidden bruises from neighborhood purists.

Raph and Casey might’ve broken a lot of noses that summer, Leo and Donnie as well; all without the use of their wands. Sometimes, a bludger bat and a couple good punches worked better than dueling techniques they weren’t supposed to know yet.

“… guess we could drop in an’ check.”

“How much d’you bet Donnie and April are already on it?”

“I wouldn’t take that bet, that’s a bet for suckers.”

“And wouldn’t you know it, I’m lookin’ at one.”

“Fuck you Raph, I ain’t a sucker.”

“The times you’ve taken bets against me an’ my bros say otherwise.”

“Speakin’ of… ain’t that Mikey over there?”

Raph followed Casey’s pointed direction, and caught sight of his youngest brother. Mikey was without LH for once, since the elder boy had different classes than him, and clutching his bag nervously to his chest.

There were four older boys surrounding him, laughing as they shoved him around a bit. Then one of them pulled out his wand. Raph could hear the _“Wingardium Leviosa”_ all the way across the busy courtyard. Mikey’s bag was snatched away, and kept hovering above his head by the taunting sixth years; all four boys guffawing at the small first year’s attempts to grab his bag out of the air.

Raph fury doubled as he saw the red and gold ties of the other wizards.

_Oh hell no._

 

 

By word of gossip, that’s how Leo found out his younger brothers were in the infirmary. _Again_.

Apparently, being a third year didn’t make him old enough yet to be called down when his siblings got in trouble. Leo had only heard because a couple of Gryffindor fourth years had been talking loudly about how Hamato and Jones had gotten into a fight with four sixth year boys and _won_. And without their wands at that!

That part didn’t surprise Leo, since Raph had been doing martial arts, same as the rest of their siblings, for the better part of his life; and Casey knew his way around a fight, despite the lack of formal training. The both of them were better at hand to hand fighting than dueling with their wands, and for the most part, none of the other students in Hogwarts could even compare. Wizards were actually really bad at fighting without their wands, something the two Gryffindors took advantage of often.

But honestly, it was _one week into the semester._ Not even! They still had the rest of the day before the weekend, and the two of them had already managed to get into yet another fight.

Though, Leo could understand why. He probably would have done something similar if he’d been there. But with more hexes though.

Leo walked quickly into the infirmary, and found prefects from both houses already there with his siblings. It looked like they were trying to separate Raph, Casey, and Mikey, but the three of them weren’t having it. Leo passed by the cluster of teachers near the doorway, and ignored whatever it was they were discussing.

Leo stepped between the two older students, and put himself in front of the bed. “Can I have a word with my siblings? Alone, please?”

The Slytherin prefect looked down at Leo, using her considerable height to almost loom over him. Her terse expression didn’t change as she recognized him. “You’re one of the other Hamatos, the older one.”

“Yes, I am,” Leo replied. “You might’ve heard of me.”

“ _I_ certainly have,” Said the prefect from Gryffindor. He chuckled, backing off from the bedside. “You and your brothers are quite the legends. Shame you didn’t end up in our house, we would’ve treated you right for that stunt you pulled off last year.”

“Thanks, but I’m happy where I am,” Leo replied diplomatically to the boy as he went by. The thought of being in the same house as Raph and Casey 24/7 sounded more than a little unappetizing; especially after the fiasco of last year. He turned to the remaining wizard, who was still looking over him calculatingly. “So, may I? Have a moment with them, I mean.”

The Slytherin girl tilted her head in consideration, but nodded and walked off to follow the other prefect. “Only because you’re being so polite about it.”

“Thank you,” Leo said gratefully to her as she left. His polite smile dropped as he turned around, switching to a worried scowl.

Mikey was relatively unscathed, but he had a blooming bruise on his jaw. Raph and Casey on the other hand displayed a black eye each, equal amounts of mussed appearance, and looked completely unrepentant about it. All three of them were probably still waiting for the healing tinctures to kick in.

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed. At least Donnie and April weren’t here this time.

“Okay, I know what you’re gonna say Leo-” Raph began, sensing Leo’s on coming frustrations. “-but lemme just say, those guys deserved what they got, we’re totally in the right here.”

“I’m sorry Leo, I didn’t mean to get us in trouble,” Mikey apologized, looking guilty despite the fact that he hadn’t been the one to throw the first punch.

“…it’s not your fault Mikey,” Leo said, sitting down next to his brothers on the already crowded bed. “Honestly? I’m not even mad at Raph and Casey. Much.”

“Told you he’d be on our side, you owe me four sickles-”

“Not now idiot, Leo’s still talkin’, and you’re not getting any of my money-”

Leo shot both of the other boys a look, and they shut their mouths.

“Like I was _saying_ , it’s not your fault a couple jerks decided to pick on you for no good reason.”

Mikey mumbled something that Leo couldn’t hear, and he leaned closer. “What was that, Mikey?”

“I said, it’s ‘cause I’m a Slytherin. They were picking on me ‘cause I’m a Slytherin,” Mikey said quietly, tugging his striped tie as he spoke.

Leo winced internally, because while they’d been expecting trouble from Mikey’s own house, they’d forgotten that other students were just as likely to bother him.

“Stupid ass reason to pick on him,” Raph said angrily, crossing his arms and scowling at no one.

Mikey frowned, looking over at his brother. “But you always said the lions fight with the snakes, ‘cause they’re rivals an’ stuff. Isn’t this, like, normal and whatever? For Gryffindor’s to hate Slytherin’s?”

Evidently, Raph’s rants over the summer about the Slytherin house were coming back to bite them, and Leo regretted not stepping in back then to shut it down. But, it wasn’t his house, and they’d never expected Mikey to end up there… so he hadn’t thought it would do any harm.

He also hadn’t thought keeping Donnie’s secret about ‘borrowing’ restricted books from the library would do them any harm, and look where that’d gotten them last year.

Leo opened his mouth to refute Mikey’s statement that prejudice and bullying was _normal_ and _allowed_ between houses, but the reappearance of the prefects stopped him from getting the words out.

“Come along, Michelangelo, our head of house would like to speak with you,” The severe looking prefect said, her somber voice leaving no room for argument. Mikey shot Leo an awkward smile, and followed his fellow Slytherin away from the bed.

“As for you two knuckle heads…” The Gryffindor prefect said, crossing his arms similarly to how Raph was. “You’ve got about two and a half weeks’ worth of detention for what you got yourselves into.”

Raph and Casey both pulled faces, disgruntled cries coming from them both, but their prefect just held up his hand. “Ah, ah, ah, I know you were just defending another student, an’ your brother no less, but rules are rules. You blokes might’ve been doing technically the right thing, but you still got into a fight. However, the boys you two beat silly? They’ve been banned from the next two months’ worth of field trips, outings to Hogsmead, and the like. Also, they’ve gotten a heck of a lot more detention than you, so suck up and buck up, you’re getting off easy. Now off with you two, our lovingly tyrannical head of house wants to talk to you herself. And don’t tell her I said that.”

Raph and Casey left, grumbling to each other as they went, and just before he left, the older student winked at Leo. “By the way, big fan of how you helped your brothers out with that little adventure last year. You sure put the snuff in huffpuff. Where’d you even learn that sort of dueling techniques? You’re barely a third year.”

Leo smiled wryly, thinking of the spells he shouldn’t know, but did anyways. “I have an interesting uncle and cousin.”

“That why? Heh, should call up my own extended family then,” The prefect chuckled, leaving off there to go and finish shooing Raph and Casey out the infirmary with their head of house.

Leo sighed, and allowed Madam Pomfrey to shoo him out as well. As he exited the medical wing, he caught the tail ends of Raph and Casey’s cloaks as they went around the corner. The hallway was empty, except for…

Donnie, standing there holding a number of books from classes he wouldn’t be registered in for another two years, and nervously adjusting his glasses. His usually tied back hair was loose in a huge poof, something he only did when he was stressed and shot off excess magic as a result. Donnie’s oddly disturbed expression added to that impression.

Leo’s _‘my brothers are in trouble’_ sense started tingling; of course, it could also be his _‘my brothers are_ causing _trouble’_ sense just as easily.

“…do I want to know?”

“Probably, yes.”

 

 

It turns out to be both.

“When I was coming to check up on Mikey and Raph, and Casey too I guess, I overheard that Slytherin prefect telling Mikey he was ‘quite unfortunate to have gotten into a petty tiff today of all days’. I’m quoting here don’t look at me like that, Leo. I only caught the very beginning of it, but she started talking about how he’d get what he deserved during the ‘initiation ceremony’ tonight,” Donnie told Leo in a low whisper, the two of them trying to keep the conversation private as they walked towards the Gryffindor house. They were on their way to pick up Casey and Raph, once they were released from their house master’s office. “I’m worried, Leo. I haven’t heard anything before about their initiation ceremonies; they’re top secret, and nothing good is ever that secretive.”

“What should we do then? It’s not like we can just. Bust into the place and kidnap Mikey away to safety. We don’t have any way to get in there.”

“Yeah… about that…”

“Donnie, no.”

“Donnie, already-too-late.”

 

 

Which was how Leo ended up standing in a dim corridor, past curfew, along with his brothers and Casey; who by that point in his and Raph’s friendship, might as well have been another one of Leo’s younger siblings.

“This is. _Exactly_. Like last year,” Leo muttered, feeling techy because of their rule breaking.

“Oh lighten up Leo, this is hardly the worst thing we’ve done,” Donnie said, waving his older brother’s frustration away from him.

“ _Exactly_ like last year,” Leo said again, ignoring Raph and Casey’s excited chattering. At least some people were having fun, however long it lasted. Upside was that April wasn’t around this time, and that meant Donnie’s criminal exuberance wouldn’t be fanned by her own; maybe she’d finally gotten that sense of self-preservation back. Leo tapped his foot nervously, feeling their doom ticking down with the clock. “We’re all going to get caught and then dad’s going to send _another_ strongly worded letter about his disappointment and this time I’ll for sure lose my spot on the Quidditch team permanently and-”

“Stop worrying Leo, we won’t get caught,” April’s voice interrupted. Leo turned his head, and found the red head Ravenclaw speed walking towards their group. “Me and Donnie have come up with a full proof plan of how to avoid detection.”

“April… April why, I thought you weren’t coming… you’re supposed to be the smart one and not get involved with this sort of thing.”

“I’m the smart one really, she’s the responsible one.”

“None of you are responsible; _I’m_ the only responsible person here.”

“Donnie, I’m just as smart as you, _do not_ try to tell me I’m anything less. Don’t forget who beat you at chess just today.”

“You’re _both_ braniacs, so can we get on with this already? Me an’ Casey are rarin’ to go.”

“Suit me up, Don! What d’you got for us this time? I’m down and ready to pound some snakes!”

“That is a horrible catch phrase and I wish you’d stop saying it, it’s worse than that _‘Goongala’_ nonsense from last year.”

“It is pretty lame, Casey.”

“Wha- rude, Raph! You’re supposed to back me up! Does house loyalty mean nothing to you?”

“House loyalty means nothing in the face of weird catch phrases.”

“That wounds me, red, it really does.”

“I hate all of you.”

 

 

“I should’ve gone to Drumstrang with Karai,” Leo grumbled under his breath, to which Donnie just rolled his eyes. Leo said that _at least_ once a week since he and Raph started school with him.

“Then just transfer already, go be weird and edgy with Karai and get it over with,” Raph said snidely, adjusting his tighter than usual tie. That was the plan, use a glamor charm on their robes and sneak inside with the password Donnie and April had… acquired. All of their colors and identifying marks were changed to Slytherin for the next two hours, more than enough time to sneak in and do something about the no doubt horrible experience Mikey was being subjected to.

As for how they were to remain unnoticed, seeing at members of the house would recognize them…

“You sure the misdirection spell will work, Donnie?” Leo asked, keeping pace with Donnie’s strides. “It’s only Friday, and I wanted us to stay out of major trouble for _at least_ the first week.”

“Hasn’t failed me yet,” Donnie replied, thinking of the multiple instances he’d used this charm to purchase and… ‘borrow’ things that he otherwise wouldn’t have been allowed to. Being a twelve year old genius could be hard sometimes, what with concerned adults trying to keep him from the fun things about magic and science.

“…I feel like I don’t want to know how many times you’ve used this spell.”

“Probably not, no.”

“Shh, guys, we’re getting close now,” April said in a hushed voice, holding a finger to her lips. Or what Donnie assumed her lips were. The misdirection charm made one’s eyes unfocused when looking directly at the be-spelled individual, and essentially told an uninformed onlooker that there was nothing unusual to see, and to keep moving along.

Donnie had to thank Karai, she’d been the one who taught him it, and the spell was one of his most frequently used.

He sometimes wondered what she used it for though…

April stopped just ahead of the group, and that meant they all paused as well. She stood in front of the long blank stone wall, the one they’d been directed to by their informant, and said very clearly, _“Excellence.”_

The wall slid away, and in the privacy of his mind, Donnie sighed with relief. He hadn’t actually been sure the password would work, since extorted information wasn’t always reliable, and especially not with Slytherin students. Very crafty they were, even more so than some of Donnie’s house mates.

Raph shoved Donnie from behind, startling him back into movement. Donnie turned his head and shot a useless glare at his fraternal twin, but continued forwards anyways.

Loud noises were flooding out from the common room ahead, and they grew in volume by the second. Then, the sound of Mikey yelling wordlessly pitched higher than the rest of the sounds.

Donnie didn’t even bother exchanging looks with his companions, they all darted forwards at the same time, entering the hall towards the main room at a break neck pace.

However, the second they got over the final threshold, something akin to an electrical fence shocked them all.

Donnie muffled his yelp only barely, and felt his panic sky rocket as the glamor and charm shielding him melted off. To make matters worse, immediately afterwards, coils of something wrapped around Donnie’s waist and legs. Donnie stayed standing a moment longer, but he fell onto the stone floor anyways thanks to his momentum from running.

And from the sounds of things, his friends and family followed right along with him.

_‘A security spell, combined with a detection spell. Diabolical,_ ’ Donnie thought analytically outside of his panic. Oh, now he really wanted to know _just how_ they’d done that. It was ingenious.

Donnie’s twin brother didn’t seem to share the fascination though.

 “ _Snakes!_ I knew it! They use _guard snakes!”_ Raph shouted semi-hysterically, struggling desperately against the binding.

“Oh my god- it’s just rope, Raph!” Donnie exclaimed, not bothering to struggle against his own rope ties. They were caught, and at this point unless Donnie could free his hand and get to his wand, they’d stay caught. Plus none of them were in disguise anymore, so even if they got free they’d be identified and their houses’ called to pick them up. And after all that work he and April went through to escape both Irma and the prefect’s detection.

Wait- Mikey. Mikey was still in trouble.

Donnie raised his head, trying to locate where his brother had been crying out from, but his view was blocked by the legs of someone. He looked up, and found himself face to leg with the scary prefect girl he’d seen escorting Mikey away earlier in the afternoon.

Their whole group stopped struggling, looking up at the very tall Slytherin with varying levels of fear. Donnie smiled hesitantly, wondering for once if the rumors about hexing intruders were true. “Um, hey there, fancy meeting you here…?”

The Slytherin prefect sighed, and shouted over her shoulder at the assembling students behind her. “Hey Murphy, you officially owe me thirty sickles; they showed up after all!”

_“You kidding me? How the hell did they get inside?”_

“Damned if I know,” She said with a huff, turning her steely eyes back Donnie and his companions. “Now. Why don’t we get you untied, you five miscreants have got some explaining to do.”

 

 

The moment Raph felt the ropes- _not snakes thank god_ \- loosen from around him, he bolted away from the Slytherin students surrounding him and raced for where he’d last heard Mikey.

The shouts to make him stop were ignored, like hell was he stopping now, and Raph dodged and weaved through the crowd of wizards; frantically looking around for his youngest brother.

Raph caught a glimpse of bright orange hair, shaped like a particularly chaotic cloud, and veered towards it. He vaulted over the back of a black leather couch, much to the dismay of its occupants, and almost tackled Mikey on the opposing piece of furniture. “Mikey!! We heard you scream, are you hurt anywhere? Did they hex you? Set poisonous snakes on you? _Is there a sacrifice of your soul happening right this moment?!”_

“Whoa, Raph, what the hell dude?!” Mikey shrieked, shoving Raph’s frantic hands off his person. “How’re you in my house’s common room? What the fuck-”

“Mikey!” Leo’s scandalized voice exclaimed over the volume of the busy room. “You _know_ you’re not supposed to swear!”

“Oh shit- _shit-_ I didn’t mean to say that, fuck- _I mean gosh darn!”_ Mikey slapped his hands over his mouth, muffling his words. _“I’m sorry Leo I didn’t mean to.”_

Raph looked over his brother, finding there was nothing off about his person excluding his lack of robes, and from the looks of things… a stain? Raph poked it, ignoring Mikey’s whine, and rubbed his fingers together. It was… sticky? What?

A hand came down on Raph’s shoulder, and he turned to find LH’s amused smile aimed at him. “Hello Raphael, it seems you and the rest of your family have fulfilled Michelangelo’s prediction.”

“Um. What?”

“Uuuuugh, Raph, you guys _always_ do this. I knew you were gonna break in here and check on me at _some point_ this year,” Mikey said petulantly. “You guys go all over protective and junk, and a ton of the fucking-“

“ _No swearing Mikey.”_

“-sorry, been spending too much time with my roommates, but like I was saying, a ton of the time there’s no reason for you guys to get all upset,” Mikey said, cheeks pinking slightly with embarrassment. “I mean. I’m not a little kid anymore; you guys don’t have to run to my rescue like, _all_ the time, okay?”

“But. But we heard you screaming…?” Raph said, starting to feel bad about making a show of his younger sibling. “And Don heard your prefect saying you were going to get what you deserved for the fight earlier-”

LH’s sudden guffaw startled Raph, almost more so than the sudden circling laughter from the rest of the nearby students.

“Oh. Oh I’m so embarrassed,” Raph turned around, and found the tall Slytherin girl standing nearby with the rest of his family, steadily turning red. She covered her face, increasing the laughter around them. “I must apologize. I have a flare for drama, I never intend to cause confusion like that, but it’s a frequent happening for me.”

“What.”

“Cassius is in the acting club, Raph, it’s kinda her thing,” Mikey said, elbowing Raph in the ribs like he’d learned to from Donnie. “She likes to make things more… what was that word again, LH?”

“Extravagant,” LH supplied.

“Right, that,” Mikey said, nodding at his older friend. “She just meant that I was gonna get to enjoy game’s night tonight, since I had a crappy day and all. And the first one is like, a rite of passage and stuff. Happens every Friday, which is so cool, and I totally creamed everyone in the Cauldron Sunday eating competition.”

“The scream you heard was Michelangelo’s victory cheer,” LH explained further, chuckling as he patted Mikey’s poofy hair, Raph’s little brother beaming up at his friend. “He beat the standing record as well, very impressive for someone so small. Eating a pound of ice cream in under five minutes, and with cake no less.”

If Raph hadn’t shaved most of his hair off earlier in the summer, he’d have been pulling it out in confusion. “I don’t understand, so you’re fine? There was no reason for us to sneak in here _at all?”_

“Nnnnnope,” Mikey replied, popping the ‘P’ at the end. The sound of a smacking hand-to-forehead was heard at that, and Raph didn’t even have to turn around to know it was Leo. Mikey grinned and shrugged, his smile returning. “I know you got beef with the Slytherin house, Raph, but c’mon, you didn’t think all those rumors were true, right? It’s just fun and games right now, take a look around bro, this place is hecka cool!”

Raph did look around and he found-

-what looked to be a very intense game of cards, possibly poker, happening at one small table crowded around by at least twenty students, all sitting in chairs stolen from other tables-

-positively ecstatic first years watching a couple fourth years have a rap battle, cheering whenever the two rappers finished a lyrical slam-

-what looked like the remains of the eating competition Mikey mentioned, with scattered ice cream bowls and candy toppings all over the table-

-and a lot of very relaxed Slytherin students, just lying around on the scattered couches or on the carpet, chatting amicably and looking… nothing like the Slytherins Raph imagined.

They were all behaving like normal students, almost exactly like Raph’s own house mates in fact. The air of superiority and aloofness Slytherins were famous for wasn’t present at all. The atmosphere of the room felt downright playful, and from the cheers rising from each group on and off, it seemed that was exactly what was happening.

For all the doom and gloom that surrounded the house, and despite the dark color scheme of it as well, the Slytherin wizards were exactly like any other house group. Going to school, making friends, and learning magic; just normal kids.

Raph sat down on the couch Mikey had been on, before Raph had basically assaulted him. “…I suddenly don’t understand anything.”

That started another round of laughter from the crowd of students, and Raph was too busy flipping his world view around to care.

 

 

“So, while this has all been very humorous and entertaining, you five are still out past curfew and have broken into another house without permission.”

Leo winced under the returned seriousness of Cassius’ gaze; Leo stood there, fighting the need to fidget, and wondering if this was the moment they’d call his house and have him detained. He didn’t want to lose his chances of getting back on the Quidditch team already; it was only the first week!

Casey, Donnie, April, and Raph also looked worried again; likely remembering the direness of their situation.

“I should call your individual prefects, report your multiple broken rules, and see that you each receive detentions,” Cassius said, putting her hands on her hips and frowning at the five of them. “You’ve disrespected a fair number of school traditions by breaking in here, and completely disregarded our right to privacy. I’m frankly surprised you had the gall to do so, regardless of my bets on your appearance, and it is my duty as a prefect to see that you are rightly punished.”

Leo closed his eyes, waiting for the final damning.

“But, I won’t,” Cassius said, and Leo opened his eyes again to see her smiling in amusement. “It’s only the first week of school, and you didn’t do any real harm. Your outstanding concern for your youngest sibling is admirable, and the ingenuity you used to get within our walls impressed us all I’m sure.”

Murmurs of agreement came from the students who were listening in, and Leo was stuck trying to process what was happening.

“Um, so you’re _not_ gonna tell on us?” Casey asked tentatively.

“Not this time, no. However, do not take this as an invite to indulge in breaking and entering, and most likely extorting our house mates for information,” Cassius said, her usual seriousness creeping back into her words. “I won’t turn a blind eye to this again, understood?”

“Yes ma’am,” Leo replied automatically, because in his house, politeness was very important regardless of the situation. His siblings and April replied similarly. “So, miss Cassius… what happens to us now?”

Cassius checked over her shoulder at her fellow prefect, a shorter boy with an amused grin, and smiled one herself. “I suppose, if you aren’t afraid of staying out of your houses for a bit longer, you may join us in festivities. It is games night after all.”

Leo opened his mouth to refuse, but his siblings and April’s chorus of excitement made him close it, and sigh. Looks like he was staying as well then; after all, _somebody_ had to keep an eye on them.

 

 

“So, Ravenclaw kids, you’re the ones who came up with the way into our house, right?” A sixth year wizard asked Donnie and April, looking at them with interest. Other students were gathering around them as well, older kids who seemed just as curious.

Donnie cleared his throat, stifling his nervousness. Were they mad? “Yes, that’s a correct assumption. Why do you ask?”

“That had to have been a fairly advanced spell to cause that much of a reaction to our security system, and you two look like you’re just starting your second year,” The older boy grinned at Donnie, sharp intelligence clear in his smile. “Name’s Michalis, I’m a sixth year student and aspiring designer of spells for home security. Would you mind giving us a quick over view of what techniques you used? Your combination of spells must have been near genius to be so powerful.”

Donnie and April exchanged a look, then crossed their arms and put on their best faces of superiority. “It’s not near genius-”

“-it’s _pure_ genius,” April finished, smirking up at Michalis.

Donnie grinned, feeling proud of them both. They were very advanced for their age, and they rarely got to show it so well. “But yes, we’d be happy to show you, since your prefect has decided to spare us lost house points and detentions.”

Michalis grinned back, and stuck out his hand to shake. Donnie took it, and tried not to feel so excited that they were being taken seriously for once.

 

 

“So you _don’t_ hex each other all the time?”

“Hexes are banned outside of official duels, and restricted to the older grades.”

“What about testing potions on first years?”

“A myth, we wouldn’t endanger our snakelings like that.”

“And there’s no snakes in the washroom? Or guard snakes?”

“The only snakes here are familiars belonging to wizards, and they’re kept in dorm rooms unless required for a spell.”

“What about prejudice against mixed bloods?” Raph asked, determined to find something to the rumors he’d been told the last year plus.

“Well, we sometimes have a problem with that unfortunately,” Admitted the male prefect, Thomas. The older boy, Raph, and Casey were all sitting on the couch Raph had collapsed on earlier, and Thomas had been chill enough to let them both shoot question after question at him. “But with recent years, we’ve had a lot of new rules and regulation set up to keep it to the barest minimum. Prior to the second wizarding war, a little before the time you were born I think, our racism and intolerance was pretty awful. It used to be horrible, some of the stuff that generation got away with. We have a very different mindset now though, and we make sure that any student that comes in here believing old traditions and such is thoroughly corrected, or at least restricted from doing too much harm.”

“Z’at mean you got some still? Like, right now?” Casey asked, leaning around Raph to see Thomas better.

“Mmmnot right now technically speaking…” Thomas scratched his chin, settling deeper into his slouch against the surprisingly comfortable couch. “They get politely removed if they can’t get along with the rest of our house mates, or they just don’t show up for games night period. The ones that we’ve got right now are hanging out in their rooms probably, though the older ones are off for the night in Hogsmeade.”

“Huh. So Mikey’ll be safe here, from assholes like that?” Raph questioned, peeking over at where his youngest brother was currently cheering LH on in poker.

“We do our best to make sure each one of our students is safe and happy, yes,” Thomas assured Raph, and internally, Raph sighed in relief. That had been his main worry because of Mikey’s unusual bully magnetism; it never failed to get him into trouble, and by extension, got them _all_ into trouble.

Hamatos stuck together, especially when it came to something like that. The only people allowed to bug Mikey was Raph and the rest of their family, no one else.

Raph slouched back against the couch, mimicking Thomas’ relaxation. “Yeah, alright. I can live with that then.”

“Ditto,” Casey agreed, sticking his feet up on the coffee table and crossing his legs.

“Glad to hear it,” Thomas said, chuckling. “So… is it true you punched an Acromantula, Raph? Like, right in the pincers and everything?”

Raph scoffed, as if he’d do something so bone headed. “Hell no, that was _his_ dumb ass,” Raph said, jabbing a thumb at Casey. “I’m the guy who skewered one, right in the head!”

“Huh, neat. How’d you do that?”

“You’d be surprised how many uses a pair of salad tongs has.”

“Sounds like quite the story, can I get the details?”

Casey threw one arm around Raph’s shoulders, and Raph didn’t even have to check to see if his friend was grinning the same grin as him. “Well, since you asked so nice like, we’ll just _have_ to tell you then.”

 

 

Leo sipped at a cup of soda someone had handed him, keeping an eye on each of his companions as they mingled with the Slytherin students. It was almost peaceful at this point, but only because Leo had experienced much, much worse when spending time with his family.

Honestly, a rowdy party for all ages in an opposing house was one of the tamer things he’d been involved with.

His conversation partner might have helped with that though, her calm and nearly tranquil presence a novel experience. Cassius was also sipping something, likely a cup of soda as well, and idly flipping through a study book while they talked.

“So you, and your siblings, really don’t believe Michelangelo should be placed in Slytherin?” Cassius asked, turning another page of her review book.

“Well. It’s not really that anymore, but closer to… we don’t understand it,” Leo explained. He’d been thinking on it all week, but he just couldn’t match the image of an ideal Slytherin with his youngest brother.

“Hm, I suppose reconciling Michelangelo with the stereotype our house is associated with _would_ be difficult,” Cassius looked up from her studying, and started tapping her fingers on the open pages. “Consider this, take away all the rumors and surface qualities of a Slytherin, and what do you have?”

“Um. Ambitiousness, cunning wits, and I think… resourcefulness? Is that right?”

“Got it in one, impressive.”

“I have a good memory, and the sorting hat sings the same message every year…” Leo shrugged, he’d always been good at remembering things like that; his father’s teachings involved a lot of memorization, and Leo had managed to retain almost all of it with each first try. He might not be truly book smart like Donnie and April, but his memory served him well enough in studying he didn’t mind. “But, Mikey can make a lot of _really_ dumb decisions, and I’ve never seen him keep one goal longer than a week; excluding certain situations. And no offense to you, Cassius, but most Slytherin I’ve met are pretty much the opposite of my brother. He’s too… um, how do I put this kindly… he’s too goofy to ever really be intimidating.”

“That might be, but there are a lot of unusual Slytherins these days,” Cassius laughed, a soft and light sound, and closed her study book to sit forwards; focusing on Leo completely. “Those three traits are the best known ones, and the most obvious, though sometimes you have to look deeper than someone’s surface to truly glimpse where they’re hidden. Do you want to know what your brother has done this week?”

“What?”

“He has managed to outsmart every attempt at hazing him, every single one. Oh don’t look at me like that; it’s all fun and games I assure you. You might have thought tonight was the initiation ceremony, but in truth, it has been happening all week. Each first year is tested by a series of pranks and gimmicks, played upon them by older students. They aren’t harmful, and are kept to a level that won’t upset anyone. However, Michelangelo has escaped each one of those pranks, and tricked multiple pranksters into becoming the pranked,” Cassius smiled at Leo’s shocked expression, tittering again. “You might not see it, but Michelangelo is by far the most resourceful and quick thinking first year we have. My personal favorite was the prank Thomas played on him; Michelangelo knew immediately that the drinks contained a potion, and through a slight of hand trick he refuses to explain, he switched his drink with Thomas’. A simple misdirection and voila, my fellow prefect is turning all the colors of the rainbow, having been played by his own prank.”

Leo glanced over at Thomas, who was listening to something Raph and Casey were excitedly explaining. “I see he got better.”

“He had the counter potion of course, but that’s not the point. Michelangelo tricked someone who is four years his senior, and much more experienced in this sort of thing; that’s not a feat to be overlooked,” Cassius pointed at the poker table, and Leo followed her finger. Mikey was there with LH still, and from the look of things, LH had just claimed the entirety of the table’s bets. “See there? I wouldn’t doubt your brother had something to do with that. He has an uncanny ability to make the best of any situation, and work it in his favor. Take a moment, Leonardo, and try to think of all the times he might’ve done this.”

Leo paused, staring down into his cup of cream soda, and thought about his younger sibling. Leo supposed that Mikey _had_ always been good at getting into trouble, but still escaping with whatever it was he’d wanted. Like last summer, with Raph and Donnie’s newly received wands; Mikey had spent a whole week trying to steal away with one or both, and after some misadventures involving explosives in Donnie’s room and hidden creatures in Raph’s, Mikey had somehow managed to get away with _everyone’s_ wands; even Leo’s and their father’s.

And then there was that time when they were much younger, when uncle Saki and their cousin Karai had visited, and Mikey had desperately needed to try Karai’s new makeup stash; he’d succeeded, though at his own peril. Their cousin, older than Leo by two years, could be terrifying when she was angry.

Looking back, there were many, many instances where Mikey had found something new or interesting to him, whether it was his or not, and had pursued it until he had it. And seven out of ten times, Mikey got away with his caper.

The amount of times their youngest sibling had tricked them out of an item, or their spot in line for play, or really just about anything, piled up higher and higher as Leo thought about it.

In the right light, those things could be seen as resourcefulness, cunning wit, and ambition.

In the right light, Mikey being a Slytherin made a lot of sense.

“Huh.” Leo said shortly, finally lining everything up in his mind.

“Not all ambitions are long term goals, and not everyone’s cunning wit is understandable, but irregardless, our house mates all have them, whether or not they fit the traditional mold,” Cassius said, as though reading Leo’s thoughts. “I’m told often I am the stereotype for this house, and I embrace that. We use our strengths to achieve our goals, and those differ per person. Your brothers’ happens to lie in misdirection using someone’s first impression of him, as we’ve come to learn this week.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Leo said truthfully, seeing his brother from a new perspective. How long had they been overlooking that part of Mikey? Years, they’d been doing it for years. Incredible. “But I see your point there.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Cassius replied, settling back down and opening her book again. “Do you have any other questions? My intuition tells me we won’t have our relative quiet for much longer, prepare for an interruption in just a moment.”

“Um, not really? Though, what do you mean about an interruption-”

“Ladies! Gentlemen! And everyone in between!” Shouted an extremely loud girl’s voice; Leo turned around on his couch, careful to not spill his drink, and looked over at the new group of Slytherin students in the room. A curvy older girl was in front of the whole group, and her twenty some cornrow braids swung wildly as she shouted above the room’s noise level.  She hoisted two cloth bags into the air, smiling triumphantly. “GUESS WHO’S GOT THE   _F I R E W H I S K Y!!”_

A thunderous cheer went up from the whole room, and the majority of the students mobbed the new arrivals.

“ _That_ would be what I meant by an interruption,” Cassius said calmly, despite the new level of chaos. She laughed as Leo shot her a horrified look. “Oh you Hufflepuffs, what did you think we do around here on Fridays? Sit in the gloom and darkly mutter _“Gryffindor”_ under our breaths? Hardly, little badger, quite hardly.”

Leo was still fumbling for words, _they were breaking so many rules holy crap_ , when the girl with the firewhisky appeared in a flurry of movement; free of her previous illegal burden and in the process of throwing her arms around Cassius.

“Cassy! Darling, sugar pie, sweetie snake, apple of my eye in the Garden of Eden; I see your prediction came true, as usual!” The new girl exclaimed happily, peppering Cassius with kisses. “I never doubted you for moment, love.”

“You never do, which I appreciate greatly. Would you mind resisting public displays of affection for the moment? I believe we are scandalizing poor Leonardo there,” Cassius said with an air of amusement, smirking at Leo, who’s face felt like it was on fire. “Leonardo, meet my girlfriend-”

“Callie! Short for Calamitous! Weird name, I know, but my grandpa had a heck of a sense of humor,” Callie said cheerfully, easing off Cassius’ person and perching herself on the sofa arm. “Cassy here told me earlier today she had a feeling you and your friends might show up, but it’s still a surprise! We don’t have break ins very often, it’s always exciting when it happens though. You enjoying the party? When I left, your little brother was really going at it with the Sunday competition. Good snakeling that one, lots of potential in him for all sorts of things. Can’t wait to see where the kid goes in life, it’ll probably be something really neat! Say, is it true what they say about you dueling with a magical creatures poacher last year and almost winning? Gosh, where’d you learn that sort of technique, you’re so young still-”

“Callie, honey, you’re overwhelming the poor kid,” Cassius chuckled, placing a hand on Callie’s jittering shoulder.

“Uhm, I-I didn’t catch all that? Though, uh, the bit about the poacher was true, yes,” Leo managed, feeling _very_ overwhelmed by Callie’s enthusiasm, and still reeling from the sudden show of _couple-ness_ from the two wizards in front of him. It wasn’t the nature of their relationship that bothered him, Karai had already thoroughly educated their family on the subject of that, it was more so Callie’s shameless display of it.

“Oh, never mind then, Cassius here will tell me everything later on anyways,” Callie said, waving a dismissive hand. “Anyways, I just stopped by to congratulate Cassy and give her some love; I’ve got a drinking competition to win and no one is going to stop me!”

Callie kissed Cassius one last time, _on the lips no less_ , and then whirled away much like her name sake; headed straight for the gathering of older students at the largest table.

Leo was vaguely reminded of the time Donnie had left a mug of his special energizing potion too close to Mikey’s reach, and the resulting mayhem that had come from that mistake.

Cassius sipped the last of her drink, and placed it down on the coffee table between her and Leo. “Callie is one of the ‘unusual’ Slytherins I spoke of. She might not be the reserved or underhanded stereotype like I, but my girlfriend is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to verbal interactions. I once witnessed her talk a teacher into passing her through a course she would have utterly failed otherwise. Do you know what her goal is for after Hogwarts?”

“I wouldn’t be able to guess,” Leo said wryly, finally getting his metaphorical feet back under him.

“A member of the Wizengamot council,” Cassius said, pride clear in her voice. “She’ll be an unstoppable force once she’s in a position of power. One of the first things she’ll look into changing further is rights of categorized magical creatures and beasts; her cousin is a werewolf you see, and he has a very hard time getting work because of it.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad she’s going to work at changing things for the better. Think she’ll do anything about prejudice against mix-bloods?” Leo asked, thinking of just how many times he and his brothers had been ostracized for both their mixed heritage and skin colors. “It’s. Something I care about. A lot actually.”

Cassius smiled, a tinge of sympathy in her expression, and she nodded. “If Callie hasn’t thought of it already, I’ll suggest it at some point along the line. I can understand your concern about that, since you are…”

“Visibly mixed? It’s okay, you can say it. It’s just a part of who I am,” Leo said, dropping his eyes to his drink again. “Though, it’s kind of heavy. Can we talk about something else? Like maybe how you’re a prefect, and you’re letting half your house population get away with an underage drinking competition as we speak?”

Cassius laughed, and turned the page of her book. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, little badger. I’m enjoying a quiet evening reviewing my course work and keeping an eye on a board game tournament. Nothing unusual for a Friday, just business as it always is.”

Leo sighed, half worried about his brother’s future in this house, and half amused by the growing chant of _“SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!”_ about twenty feet from them.

“You’re not letting any first years do that, right?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, it’s only fifth years and up.”

“Then I guess I don’t see anything either. D’you have any more cream soda? I’m still thirsty.”

“I believe we do; shall we retrieve some, Leonardo?”

“I think we shall, Cassius.”

 

 

The night wasn’t uneventful, what with Raph and Casey’s re-enactment of their battle with the creatures of the forbidden forest, complete with wand action, and Donnie and April’s demonstration of ‘proper’ usage of misdirection and glamor spells; not to mention, Mikey’s enthusiastic summoning of fireworks _indoors and underground_ _Mikey what were you thinking-_

But, even with the headache Leo suffered, it was a lot of fun after a week of worrying.

They even managed to get back to their house dorms undetected, thanks to some god send that Leo deeply appreciated.

It was still very late though, when he finally collapsed on his bed. Leo, among the many things he was grateful for that evening, added _‘thank god it’s Friday’_ to the list.

 

 

Mikey hummed to himself cheerfully as he darted through the hallway crowds, enjoying the early morning air coming from the open doors and windows. Saturday morning meant students were wandering out onto the greenery surrounding the castle; which was exactly where Mikey knew he’d find two groups of people he was looking for.

The first one consisted of Raph and Casey, the first step to his plan for the morning.

He found his Gryffindor brother/friend underneath one of the trees near the lake, the two of them tossing an enchanted paper plane between their wands.

“Hey guys, g’morning!” Mikey exclaimed, kneeling down carefully; avoiding jostling his bag too much. Wouldn’t want to damage its contents. “How you guys feelin’ today? Last night was _wild!”_

“Damn right it was, you never told me your house could through parties like that,” Raph said, flicking the paper air plane so its course collided with Mikey’s fluffy hair.

Mikey laughed, and pulled the paper free of his wild nest. “I didn’t know until last night, its only week one still.”

“I take back every crappy thing I ever said about your house, Mikester,” Casey said, taking the plane from him and unfolding it to make some new. “Slytherin’s actually alright by my standards. Glad it ain’t all blood sacrifices and poisonous snakes like people said.”

“Oh me too, I was kinda worried at first that I was gonna have to learn how to snake charm every time I wanted to go pee,” Mikey said, thinking back to his first night in the dorms. LH had been really great, explaining everything to Mikey that he’d asked about, it’d really helped him settle into his new home. “But you know, the only snakes are owned by people, an’ we don’t have any loose ones around. Most of the time. There’s an accident occasionally, according to LH.”

“That’s comforting,” Raph said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “So what d’you want? You usually run off and hang around Leo or your new snake pals, what’s with the visit?”

“Oh yeah, that reminds me,” Mikey opened his side bag, carefully pulling out the gift his roommates had given him the night before. “You remember those jerks right, the ones that ruined my Friday for like, a whole five hours? How about… we ruin their Saturday?”

Raph’s eyebrows shot up, and he pointed dubiously at the box in Mikey’s hands. “Is that- is that was I think it is?”

“Holy shit Mikey, where’d you even get that??” Casey exclaimed, hands reaching out and retracting over and over from the box. “Those are so expensive!”

“I have some _really_ cool roommates,” Mikey grinned, waggling his eyebrows. “So, whata’ya say? Wanna get a lil revenge?”

Raph and Casey grinned back, and Mikey had to fight the urge to cackle. He really was spending too much time with his roommates, and maybe Donnie too.

 

 

 

_Weasley's Wizard Wheezes’ Bothersomes- Bee-Gone-Box_ worked like a charm, which was all it took to make it work in the first place.

A simple guiding spell, the names of whom you wanted the artificial bees inside to attack, and that’s it! Sit back, and enjoy the show! Or so said the box’s instructions at least; simple enough that almost any level of wizard could get it to work right.

Mikey might’ve only been officially practicing magic for a week, but even he couldn’t screw it up. Privately in his thoughts, he thanked Karai for teaching him and his brothers a bit of magic before they actually went to school like she did; it sped up his learning by a lot.

When the bee box was set in place, dropped near their targets by one of Mikey’s fellow Slytherin who’d happened to be passing by, Mikey swished his wand and sent his intentions towards the box’s contents and pre-set magical instructions.

It was absolutely hilarious to watch the four Gryffindor bullies get their just desserts in the form of a thick, maelstrom of a bee cloud.

They weren’t being stung of course, but anyone would panic if suddenly they were surrounded by thousands of bees.

The prank got even better as the four older boys decided to jump into the lake to escape the bees, only to come back up for air and get swarmed again.

Hidden up in a thickly leafed tree, Mikey clung desperately to the branches; trying not fall to the ground as he wheezed for air. Raph and Casey were also breathlessly laughing, and eventually, Casey did actually fall out of the tree.

He was fine, and kept laughing even on the ground.

Mikey couldn’t form any words, his sides hurt too much to, but if he could’ve, he would’ve said something along the lines of this being the best possible way his first week as a Slytherin could’ve ended.

It got even better when they got away with the prank, even if Leo clearly knew what they’d done.

Mikey just smiled innocently at his yellow and black clad brother, and went to sit down with the silver green students of his chosen house. Sliding into place nest to LH, Mikey grabbed a soft and warm bun from the bread basket, and started telling his older friend just what he’d gotten up to that day.

LH smiled, and chuckled as he mussed Mikey’s hair, and Mikey felt more at home than he’d thought he would have in the house of deceit and trickery. But then again, he’d been Dr. Prankenstein, MD, even before he learned how to use his magic; these were his people, the wizards who _got him_. An exciting new experience, even with how weird Mikey’s family was.

Mikey was pretty sure he was going to really enjoy himself here; snakes and all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> this should otherwise be known as "The One Time I Tried To Write An HP Crossover BC No One Else Had Yet And Did A Pretty Okay Job"


End file.
